Isma'il: The Son of Imam Sadiq (AS)

Isma’il was the oldest son of Imam Sadiq. He was very pious and respected by the Imam. Many thought that Isma’il would be the next Imam after Imam Sadiq, as Imamat had passed down to the oldest son in the past, from Imam Sajjad to Imam Baqir, and from Imam Baqir to Imam Sadiq. During the time when the Imam’s activities were under intense surveillance by the Abbasids, and his own life was in danger, the Imam could not publicly introduce the next Imam. Any public announcement of this news would have put the life of his successor in danger. The Imam had introduced his younger son, Imam Musa al-Kazim, as his successor in the Imamat only to his very close companions.
Isma’il passed away during the life of Imam Sadiq, about six years before the Imam’s martyrdom. The Imam, who knew that some might be misled about Isma’il’s death in the future, showed the body of Isma’il to as many as 30 of his companions and asked them to testify to his death. Also, when the Imam and the other Muslims were sorrowfully taking Isma’il’s body for burial in the Baqi’ cemetery, the Imam ordered to stop the procession and uncovered Isma’il’s face for the crowd to observe his corpse. The Imam repeated this action multiple times during the funeral. However, after Imam Sadiq’s martyrdom, some rejected Isma’il’s demise and assumed him to be the promised Mahdi who had disappeared from sight. Some others accepted Isma’il’s demise, but believed in the continuation of Imamat from his lineage. These people are known as the Isma’ilis, which is one of the surviving factions of Shi’ism today.